A group of North Country leaders has sent Sen. Kelly Ayotte a letter expressing their unhappiness over her voting against a bill that - among many other things - included funding for the federal prison in Berlin.
Last week Sen. Kelly Ayotte voted against a wide-ranging bill that included about $28 million in funding to open the new federal prison in Berlin.
The prison would bring about 330 jobs to the area.
Ayotte said while she wants the prison to open she couldn’t vote for the bill because so many other components were a poor use of taxpayer funds and would increase the budget by billions of dollars.
Now a group of North Country leaders has sent Ayotte a letter saying her vote was alarming and hurt a region that needs economic help.
Robin Frost is the town manager for Gorham. She is one of those who signed the letter.
“Basically the concern that the town of Gorham has is that we really feel that opening the prison would be a very good thing for the region as a whole.
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen voted for the bill which passed and now goes to the House of Representatives.
For NHPR News this is Chris Jensen
To see Senator Ayotte's Op-Ed piece on her vote:
http://ayotte.senate.gov/?p=news&id=298
